Cao Rui nodded: "Sikong is right, let's delay the Liaodong issue for now."
Seeing that Guanqiu Jian seemed to be hesitant to speak, Cao Rui asked curiously, "What else does Zhonggong want to say?"
Guanqiu Jian thought for a moment, then clasped his hands and replied, "Your Majesty, I have something to say about Luoyang, and it is also about the Gongsun family."
Cao Rui nodded.
Guanqiu Jian continued, "I have already submitted a report to Your Majesty in Luoyang on the case of Gongsun Huang, the doctor, who reported his brother Gongsun Yuan."
"There is a man in Luoyang named Li Xin. His father is the former governor of Henei, Li Min, Lord Li..."
As Guanqiu Jian continued to speak, an invisible relationship chain of Cao Wei's high-ranking officials was revealed to Cao Rui.
Sima Yi, Pei Qian, and Guanqiu Xing, these three people had such a relationship with Li Min before.
Qian Zhao even remarried Li Xin's wife, which brought the relationship back to another level.
The affairs of Li Min and Li Xin are just one aspect, but they reflect the tip of the iceberg of the network of relationships among ministers in the court.
Cao Rui asked: "So, Gongsun clan is really despised by Luozhong?"
"More than spitting on him?" Guanqiu Jian responded, "Li Xin's death has already made him stink beyond recognition."
"I think that in the future, we will not encounter any resistance in the court when we conquer Liaodong." Cao Rui looked at Sima Yi calmly and asked, "Sikong, has Li Min made any contribution to the education of Henei County? If so, the court should posthumously reward Li Xin's son Li Yin."
Sima Yi's expression remained unchanged: "Your Majesty, Lord Li Min was indeed a capable minister who protected his hometown and promoted Confucianism during the chaos."
"His son Li Xin is also a filial son. The court should commend his virtues and promote morality."
Cao Rui nodded and said, "Okay, I will ask Secretary Liu to issue an edict to commend him and allow his youngest son Li Yin to enter the Imperial College in the future."
Guanqiu Jian stood up and bowed to the emperor: "I thank your majesty for your grace on behalf of Li Yin! Li Yin lost his father at a young age and lives in my house. In the future, he will be able to study at the Imperial Academy. I believe he will not bring disgrace to our family!"
Cao Rui nodded slightly and didn't care.
Li Yin? He was just a child. It was only a matter of raising his hand to reward his father and admit him to the Imperial College.
More importantly, Guanqiu Jian revealed this relationship, which he was not aware of, in front of himself and especially in front of Sima Yi.
This news is worth the price.
Since Guanqiu Jian mentioned this person, it would be reasonable to reward him.
It's also for Guanqiu Jian's sake.
As an emperor, there is a lot of work to do.
Among many tasks, showing favors was one of the emperor's daily tasks, and a very important one.
The emperor wanted to win over more and more people in the world by constantly bestowing favors, rewards, and praises.
Power is not one-way, but two-way.
Take Yuan Shao in the late Han Dynasty for example. The Yuan family had three high officials in four generations, and their students and former officials were spread all over the world. Wasn’t it achieved through continuous kindness?
The emperor is the ultimate authority in the world.
Cao Rui appointed Zhang He as the General of the Western Expedition, and also appointed Lu Xun, Xiahou Ba, Guo Huai and many others. Isn't this also a kind of favor?
The more you give, the more you get, and the more people will support you. This is an eternal truth in the world.
Just as Cao Rui and Guanqiu Jian were chatting about some recent events in Luoyang, Wang Chang, the Secretary of the Central Secretariat, walked in with a military report in his hand.
After Yang Fu and Chen Jiao left, Wang Chang, with the title of Zhongshu Shilang, assisted Shizhong Wang Su in managing military secrets.
"Your Majesty," Wang Chang bowed and saluted, with a hint of joy on his face, "The general has an urgent report that the army has entered Yangping Pass on the morning of the tenth. Yangping Commander Zhang Kai opened the city and surrendered, and Ju County Magistrate Fu Xin also contributed to the merit of persuading them to surrender."
Yangping Pass, this is Yangping Pass!
With Yangping Pass in hand, Hanzhong and Shuzhong will be completely separated, and Hanzhong will no longer belong to Shu.
Sima Yi turned around, clasped his hands and congratulated him: "Your Majesty, I, Sima Yi, congratulate you on the recovery of Yangping Pass! Under the current situation, Shu Kingdom is powerless!"
Sima Yi was naturally the fastest to react, followed by Wang Su, Guanqiu Jian, and Wang Chang who also congratulated him.
Cao Rui laughed a few times at first, then gradually turned serious: "I have heard what you said, and it is very gratifying to have captured Yangping Pass. But I do not want to accept congratulations now. It will not be too late to congratulate after I have recovered the entire territory of Hanzhong."
Cao Rui’s idea was very simple.
If we really want to celebrate, we should wait until the war is over and celebrate in any way we want. How can we do something like popping champagne at halftime?
Sima Yi said, "Your Majesty is wise, but in my opinion, the recovery of Hanzhong is only a matter of time."
"We have already captured Yangping Pass, and Hanzhong is all plains, which is most conducive to the cavalry's vertical and horizontal division. Mianyang, Nanzheng and other cities have no strategic locations to rely on, so we should seize them in one fell swoop."
"Besides, haven't Ju County and Yangping Pass surrendered? If Your Majesty rewards these two generously, the cities in Hanzhong may surrender even faster!"
"What Sikong said makes sense." Cao Rui looked at Wang Chang and said, "I now confer the title of Marquis of Ting to Fu Xin, the Magistrate of Ju County, and Zhang Kai, the Commandant of Yangping, and reward them with 200 bolts of silk each. They will all be transferred to Luoyang and promoted to official posts. Their specific official posts will be determined later."
"Let the general tell us about the deeds of these two people!" Cao Rui's eyes flashed with a sharp look: "The more straightforward you surrender, the higher the price I will give you!"
Wang Chang replied, "I understand. I will tell the general right away."
After Wang Chang left, Cao Rui walked out of the tent with his hands behind his back.
The big tent Cao Rui was in at the moment was the one Zhuge Liang had left behind in Chiting. It had only been modified to a shape and specifications that were more in line with the emperor's status.
Looking west from outside the tent, what comes into view is the ancient waterway flowing from north to south. Yangping Pass has already been under the control of Wei, so there should be no suspense about getting Hanzhong.
Shu was originally a small and narrow land, and now that Hanzhong has been lost, it is on the verge of national destruction.
Sima Yi, Guanqiu Jian and Wang Su also followed the emperor out.
Guanqiu Jian asked tentatively: "Your Majesty, now that Hanzhong has been captured, can we take advantage of the victory to pursue and destroy the Shu bandits?"
Cao Rui did not turn around, still looking at the mountains in the distance and said, "Zhong Gong is saying that we should take advantage of the situation to destroy Shu?"
Guanqiu Jian said: "I don't know the specific details, I just speculate privately."
"No." Cao Rui said.
"No." This was Sima Yi's reminder.
Wang Su stood by and said nothing. Wang Su knew that his position as the Minister of the Interior was due to his knowledge of Confucian classics, so during the months he accompanied the army on the expedition, he did not offer any opinions on military strategy.
Cao Rui understood that with the capture of Hanzhong, more and more people would have such thoughts, both in the army and in the court.
If Cao Rui was not in the army but only watching the battle from a distance in Luoyang, he might have had the same thought.
But Cao Rui was in the army.
Some of these things were witnessed with my own eyes.
Let’s not talk about anything else, just talk about military strength.
In the Battle of Lueyang, Qian Zhao's 15,000 infantrymen who came from Chang'an to support Lueyang were completely defeated. The death of 6,000 soldiers, plus a considerable number of wounded, made it difficult for these soldiers to go to the battlefield again in the short term.
The remaining several thousand troops of this unit could only maintain order in the cities of Tianshui and keep the Qiang people at bay when they were farming.
This is not alarmist, but a real thing.
In the Battle of Chiting, Zhang He's troops also suffered heavy losses. With an original force of 30,000, they could only take 10,000 infantrymen with them when they marched south.
The losses these fierce battles inflict on an army would take months or even quarters to recover from.
Besides, the 50,000 central troops were brought here from Luoyang. They had come a long way from Luoyang to support Longyou, and they were already exhausted.
If the battle continued after Hanzhong, how would the loss of the central army be calculated? If the central army was empty, how would the emperor rule the country?
There are also Yongzhou, Sili, Yanzhou, Jizhou, Bingzhou, and the counties and countless civilians who are trying hard to maintain logistics...
All these accounts need to be settled one by one and must be settled clearly.
Being able to take Hanzhong this time is already the limit of the current strength of the Wei Dynasty.
Cao Rui turned and looked at Guanqiu Jian: "Emperor Wu said in the past, 'People suffer from having no feet. After taking Longyou, he wanted to take Shu again.' Now I understand it completely."
"It's not that I don't want to, it's that I can't!"
Guanqiu Jian cupped his hands apologetically and said, "I made a mistake."
Cao Rui raised his chin towards Sima Yi: "Sikong, come and explain to Zhong Gong!"
Sima Yi said calmly: "First, the logistics of food and grass are insufficient to continue the attack on Shu. Second, we have been away from Luoyang for a long time. The central army should return to the capital to control the world."
Guanqiu Jian nodded as if he suddenly understood.
Cao Rui asked, "Does Zhong Gong want to lead the troops?"
Guanqiu Jian smiled awkwardly: "I just want to share your worries."
Cao Rui smiled and said, "Now each general has his own assignment. If I were to ask you to take soldiers from the camps of the general or the general of the Western Expedition, the generals would probably scold me in private."
"However, when Zhong Gong was in Bingzhou suppressing the Xianbei rebellion last year, his achievements still impressed me. After you return to the court, you will be the general in the Zhonglei Camp!"
Sima Yi was standing nearby and seemed to have remembered something.
Wasn't the Zhonglei Camp under Cao Hong's charge? Why did he want to give some of it to Guanqiu Jian?
Wang Su, who had been silent the whole time, interrupted and said, "Yangping Pass has been decided. Your Majesty can choose a day to go to Hanzhong."
Cao Rui nodded slightly: "I also have this idea!"
……
The distance from Chiting to Baishui Pass where Lu Xun was located was more than 700 miles.
Of course, these more than 700 miles refer to the march in the area controlled by the Wei Dynasty, not the road through Chiting, Wuxing, and Yang'an Pass.
On the fifth day, when Zhuge Liang was defeated and retreated, Cao Rui ordered people to go along Xiabian and Wujie to send a message to Lu Xun.
The letter took more than six days to arrive, a distance of more than 700 miles.
On the evening of the 11th, Lu Xun received a report from the emperor about the battle situation at Chiting outside Baishui Pass.
At this moment, Zhuge Liang had just arrived at Baishui Pass.
Lu Xun and Xiahou Xian sat next to each other. After Lu Xun carefully read the military report several times, he handed it to Xiahou Xian.
What kind of military talent was Lu Xun? The defeat of the Shu army at Chiting had actually marked the complete failure of the Shu army's plan to march north.
It is just not known whether Cao Zhen's 30,000 pursuing troops went south along the Wuxing and Yang'an Pass area, or entered Hanzhong along the Wuxing, Ju County, and Yangping Pass.
For Lu Xun, none of these are bad news. (End of this chapter)
